The House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller - a twisty thriller that will have you reading through the night

Product Information

Has anyone independently confirmed that Dan exists? Is he just a Klonopin hallucination? Is he real and did Maya murder him? Did Frank psychically murder him so he could have Maya all to himself? Of course, if you are one of many readers who is OVER the pill-popping 'can we trust her' trope...you might want to avoid this. It only tends to annoy me on a case-by-case basis (and didn't here, although her habit was mentioned more than it needed to be) and I don't feel it detracted from the narrative too much, but if you are fed up with addicted protagonists, this won't be the book for you. The novel works as an intense psychological thriller that thrives on subtle, but forceful, action.” Memories of her best friend's death have kept Maya under the influence of self medicating to forget the past. Her friend Aubrey died in front of a man named Frank that they were both interested in and almost split their friendship. the book) suffers from doing way too much at the same time […] I really struggled with following this narrative, and the drinking/pill popping trope is so overused at this point. However, I do think there’s a reader/audience for this book. The synopsis is calling it “utterly unique” and I can see that because as the story develops after the halfway mark, it is indeed very different than I expected. Readers will either love or hate the ending, which will make for great book club discussions.”

House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick The House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

I’m giving three solid stars because it was still intriguing, face paced, truly hooked me till the end. But I was expecting more satisfying ending!!

What to know

Maya has struggled with addiction since the death of her best friend, has been labeled “crazy” by doctors and even her loving mother, and is fearful that her boyfriend will leave her if he ever finds out the truth. She is an exceptionally powerful character who is so dysfunctional and human, I couldn’t help but root for her. Right from the start, there is something not quite right about Frank but Reyes keeps this secret hidden until the deliciously twisted ending, which was unexpected yet still extremely entertaining. As someone who is not a fan of paranormal mysteries and was really unhappy about the plot twist of this recent book into the paranormal, I hate to even say this, but if this book had to be a thriller, I think it would have worked better as a paranormal. It would have been scarier, and the author wouldn’t have had to work so hard at the end to convince us that murder-by-hypnosis could actually be a thing. The way the book was, it just came off to me as weird and confusing, not scary. Things That Didn’t Make Sense to Me About House in the Pines I enjoyed this book and thought it was a unique premise. The story centers on Maya, whose best friend Aubrey died suddenly while with the guy Maya was dating named Frank. There is something weird and creepy about Frank that Maya can’t put her finger on, but she is convinced he had something to do with the death. 7 years later she sees a video posted online where another woman seemingly just keels over and dies while also in Frank’s presence and Maya knows she has to get to the bottom of what Frank is doing to these people. I believe in the unique abilities of human brain and how it could be manipulated but some parts of the explanations about events seem a little illogical for me!

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes | Goodreads

I DEVOURED this book! Reyes’s prose is sensuous and transportive, threaded through with a sense of underlying dread. This remarkable debut confidently explores themes of storytelling, generational ties, complicated female friendships, and control.” Maya shows the Youtube video to her boyfriend, Dan. He points out that the girl who died looks like Maya. Maya gets off drugs and begins to work on finishing her father’s book. Spoiler Discussion for The House in the Pines After the funeral, Maya’s grandfather gave her a book that her father was writing called “I Forgot I Was The Son of Kings.” Maya takes it home to Pittsfield and starts to translate it. Frank tells her he has been to Guatemala as well. The central mystery (well, there are two, the first one is whether Frank actually killed those two women, and if so how, and) what is the deal with the strange house in the woods that haunts her dreams, the House in the Pines of the title.

Rate And Review

I didn’t enjoy this book but I still wanted to know what caused the deaths…I couldn’t find any spoilers so I had to finish the book. If you feel the same way, please accept this gift: it was hypnotism Many thanks to NetGalley, Dutton, and Ana Reyes for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 1.3!**